Unemployment

Labor force is comprised of all persons classified as employed or unemployed. Essentially these are all civilians, 16 years and over, classified as employed or unemployed.

Employed are persons who did any work as paid employees during the reference week (the week including the 12 th of the month) or worked 15 hours or more without pay in a family business or farm, plus those not working who have a job from which they were temporarily absent, whether or not paid, for such reasons as labor-management dispute, illness, or vacation. Each employed person is counted only once, even if he or she holds more than one job. Multiple jobholders are counted in the job at which they worked the greatest number of hours during the reference week.

Unemployed are persons who did not work at all (in the reference week), have actively looked for a job (sometime in the 4-week period ending with the survey reference week), and are currently available for work. Persons on layoff expecting recall need not be looking for work to be counted as unemployed.

Unemployment Rate is the number of unemployed as percent of the (civilian) labor force.

Weekly unemployment insurance initial claims and weeks claimed data reflect unemployment in the State of Hawaii. Initial claims initiate a determination of eligibility to begin a claimant’s benefit year (new claim) or subsequent period of unemployment (additional claim) within the benefit year, and reflect persons beginning a new period of unemployment. Weeks claimed are requests for weekly unemployment payments, whether or not benefits are actually paid, filed by claimants during the reference week. Agent claims are filed by unemployed persons now living in Hawaii, against another state in which they had prior earnings to qualify them for unemployment benefits.